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List of Medal of Honor recipients

The Medal of Honor was created during the American Civil War and is the highest military decoration presented by the United States government to a member of its armed forces. The recipient must have distinguished themselves at the risk of their own life above and beyond the call of duty in action against an enemy of the United States. Due to the nature of this medal, it is commonly presented posthumously.[1]

The citations highlighting acts of gallantry that received the Medal of Honor have been and continue to be regularly released by book publishers. After the Second World War both the Army and Navy produced hardbound Medal of Honor compilations.[3] Between 1964 and 1979, the United States Senate Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare and later the Committee on Veterans' Affairs produced a number of consolidated compilations of all Medal of Honor citations to date.[4] Additions and changes to the list of recipients of the medal since the 1979 have been regularly published by the Congressional research Service.[5]

The first Army Medal of Honor was awarded to Private Jacob Parrott during the American Civil War for his role in the Great Locomotive Chase. The first African American recipient for this award was William Harvey Carney who, despite being shot in the face, shoulders, arms, and legs, refused to let the American flag touch the ground. The only female Medal of Honor recipient is Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War surgeon. Her medal was rescinded in 1917 along with many other non-combat awards, but it was restored by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.[6]

While current law, (10 U.S.C.§ 6241), beginning in 1918, explicitly states that recipients must be serving in the U.S. Armed Forces at the time of performing a valorous act that warrants the award, exceptions have been made. For example, Charles Lindbergh, while a reserve member of the U.S. Army Air Corps, received his Medal of Honor as a civilian pilot. Although Medals of Honor can only be awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces, being a U.S. citizen is not a prerequisite for eligibility to receive the medal. Sixty-one Canadians who were serving in the United States armed forces have received the Medal of Honor; most received it for actions in the American Civil War. Since 1900, only four have been awarded to Canadians.[7] In the Vietnam War, Peter C. Lemon was the only Canadian born recipient of the Medal of Honor. However, he was a US citizen.[8]

The term Indian Wars is the name generally used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between colonial or federal governments and the American Indian population resident in North America before the arrival of white settlers.[10] During this conflict the Medal of Honor was presented to 426 soldiers, 13 posthumously for acts of bravery and gallantry in combat.[9] Some 20 Medal of Honor recipients were involved in the Wounded Knee Massacre.

The United States expedition to Korea in 1871, also known as Sinmiyangyo (Western Disturbance of the Year Sinmi year), was the first American military action in Korea. It took place predominantly on and around the Korean island of Ganghwa. The reason for the presence of the American military expeditionary force in Korea was to support an American diplomatic delegation sent to establish trade and diplomatic relations with Korea and to ascertain the fate of the General Sherman merchant ship. The isolationist nature of the Joseon Dynasty government and the assertiveness of the Americans led to an armed conflict between the two parties. Eventually, the United States failed to secure its objectives.[11]

The Spanish–American War (Spanish: Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense, desastre del 98, Guerra Hispano-Cubana-Norteamericana or Guerra de Cuba) was a military conflict between Spain and the United States that began in April 1898. Hostilities halted in August of that year, and the Treaty of Paris was signed in December. The war began after the American demand for Spain's peacefully resolving the Cuban fight for independence was rejected, though strong expansionist sentiment in the United States may have motivated the government to target Spain's remaining overseas territories: Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam and the Caroline Islands.[13]

Riots in Havana by pro-Spanish "Voluntarios" gave the United States reason to send in the warship USS Maine. This action by the U.S. indicated high national interest. Tension among the American people was raised because of the explosion of USS Maine, and "yellow journalism" that accused Spain of extensive atrocities, agitating American public opinion. The war ended after decisive naval victories for the United States in the Philippines and Cuba. The Treaty of Paris ended the conflict 109 days after the outbreak of war giving the United States ownership of the former Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam.[14] 111 people received the Medal of Honor from the Spanish–American War.

The Samoan Civil War is a Western definition of political activity in the Samoa Islands of the South Pacific in the late 19th century. By this non-Samoan definition, the Samoan Civil Wars were a series of wars between Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, ending in the partitioning of the island chain in 1899. The concluding event was the Second Samoan Civil War. The first Samoan Civil War lasted for eight years. The warring Samoan parties were supplied arms, training and sometimes even combat troops by Germany, Britain and the United States. These three powers valued Samoa as a refueling station for coal fired shipping. In addition, these countries sought to gain more power in Europe and wanted Samoa due to the scarcity of unclaimed territory from 1870 onwards.[15]

The Philippine–American War[n 1] was an armed military conflict between the United States and the First Philippine Republic, fought between 1899 and at least 1902, which arose from a Filipino political struggle against U.S. occupation of the Philippines. While the conflict was officially declared over on July 4, 1902,[17][18][19] American troops continued hostilities against remnants of the Philippine Army and other resistance groups until 1913, and some historians consider these unofficial extensions part of the war.[19]

Eighty-six men were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions in the Philippine–American War: 70 from the Army, 10 from the Navy, and 6 from the Marine Corps. Four of the awards were posthumous. Among the recipients were Webb Hayes, the son of former U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes, and two prominent Marine Corps officers, Hiram I. Bearss and David Dixon Porter. Bearss became known for leading long-range reconnaissance patrols behind enemy lines and was later wounded as a colonel in World War I. Porter was from a distinguished military family and rose to become a major general. José B. Nísperos, a member of the Philippine Scouts who was honored for continuing to fight after being wounded, was the first Asian recipient of the Medal of Honor.[20]

The Boxer Movement or Boxer Rebellion, which occurred in China from November 1899 to September 7, 1901, was an uprising by members of the Chinese Society of Right and Harmonious Fists against foreign influence in areas such as trade, politics, religion and technology that occurred in China during the final years of the Manchu rule (Qing Dynasty). The members of the Society of Right and Harmonious Fists were simply called boxers by the Westerners due to the martial arts and calisthenics they practiced. The uprising began as an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist peasant-based movement in northern China. They attacked foreigners who were building railroads and violating Feng shui, as well as Christians, who were held responsible for the foreign domination of China. In June 1900, the Boxers invaded Beijing and killed 230 non-Chinese. Tens of thousands of Chinese Christians, Catholic and Protestant alike, were killed mostly in Shandong and Shanxi Provinces as part of the uprising. The government of Empress Dowager Cixi was not helpful, and diplomats, foreign civilians, soldiers and some Chinese Christians retreated to the legation quarter where they held out for fifty-five days until a multinational coalition rushed 20,000 troops to their rescue. The Chinese government was forced to indemnify the victims and make many additional concessions. Subsequent reforms implemented after the crisis of 1900 laid the foundation for the end of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the modern Chinese Republic.[21]

During the Boxer rebellion, 59 American servicemen received the Medal of Honor for their actions. Four of these were for Army personnel, twenty-two went to navy sailors and the remaining thirty-three went to Marines. Harry Fisher was the first Marine to receive the medal posthumously and the only posthumous recipient for this conflict.[22]

Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels ordered that 56 Medals of Honor be awarded to participants in the occupation of Veracruz, the most for any single action before or since. In total 63 Medals of Honor were received for actions during the occupation; 1 Army, 9 to members of the United States Marine Corps and 53 to Navy personnel.[22]

Approaching a breach in the wall which was the only entrance to the fort, Sergeant Iams unhesitatingly jumped through the breach despite constant fire from the Cacos and engaged the enemy in a desperate hand-to-hand combat until the bastion was captured and Caco resistance neutralized.

The United States occupied the Dominican Republic from 1916 to 1924. In May 1917, Rear Admiral William Caperton forced Arias to leave Santo Domingo by threatening the city with naval bombardment. U.S. Marines invaded and took control of the country within two months; in November that same year, the U.S. imposed a military government. The Marines restored order throughout most of the republic (with the exception of the eastern region); the country's budget was balanced, its debt was diminished, and economic growth resumed; infrastructure projects produced new roads that linked all the country's regions for the first time in its history; a professional military organization, the Dominican Constabulary Guard, replaced the partisan forces that had waged a seemingly endless struggle for power.[26]

The United States occupied Nicaragua from 1909 to 1933 and intervened in the country several times before that. The American interventions in Nicaragua were designed to prevent the construction of a trans-isthmian canal by any nation but the USA. Nicaragua assumed a quasi-protectorate status under the 1916 Chamorro-Bryan Treaty. The occupation ended as Augusto César Sandino, a Nicaraguan revolutionary, led guerrilla armies against US troops. Furthermore, the onset of the Great Depression made it costly for the USA to maintain occupation.[31]

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict. The conflicts joined from two separate conflicts. The first began in Asia in 1937 as the Second Sino-Japanese War; the other began in Europe in 1939 with the German and Russianinvasion of Poland.[n 2] This global conflict split the majority of the world's nations into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. It involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history, and placed the participants in a state of "total war", erasing the distinction between civil and military resources. This resulted in the complete activation of a nation's economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities for the purposes of the war effort. Over 60 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.[34] The worldwide financial cost of the war is estimated at a trillion 1944 U.S. dollars,[35][36] making it the most costly war both in capital expenditures as well as loss of lives.

During this conflict 471 United States military personnel received the Medal of Honor, 273 of them posthumously. A total of 42 Medals of Honor, representing 9% of all awarded during World War II, were presented for action in just two battles – 15 for actions during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and 27 for actions during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Also a total of 21 (4.5% of all World War II Medals of Honor) were awarded to members of the all-Japanese American100th Infantry Battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, for actions in numerous battles across six different campaigns.[37] Additionally, the only Medal of Honor ever presented to a member of the United States Coast Guard was received for actions during this war.[22]

The Korean War was ignited by the 1950 invasion of South Korea when the North Korean Army moved south on June 25, 1950 to attempt to reunite the Korean peninsula, which had been formally divided since 1948. The conflict was then expanded by the United States, China's and the Soviet Union's involvement. The main hostilities were during the period from June 25, 1950, until the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed on July 27, 1953.

In South Korea, the war is often called "6•25", or the 6•25 War (Korean: 6•25 전쟁), from the date of the start of the conflict or, more formally, Hanguk Jeonjaeng literally “Korean War”. In North Korea, while commonly known as the Korean War, it is formally called the Fatherland Liberation War. In the early days of the war, United States President Harry Truman called the United Nations response a "police action".[38] The war is sometimes called "The Forgotten War" because it is a major conflict of the 20th century that gets less attention than World War II, which preceded it, and the controversial Vietnam War, which succeeded it.[39] In China, the conflict was known as the War to Resist America and Aid Korea, but is today commonly called the "Korean War".[40]

During this war, 145 Medals of Honor were presented for bravery in action, 107 of them posthumously.[22]

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, and in Vietnam as the American War, occurred from 1959 to April 30, 1975. The term "Vietnam Conflict" is often used to refer to events which took place between 1959 and April 30, 1975. The war was fought between the Communist-supported Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the United States supported Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). During the Vietnam War and in the following twelve months, 234 Medals of Honor were received and since 1978 a further 26 awards have been presented. Of the total of 260 awards, 174 were to the US Army, 15 to the US Navy, 57 to the USMC and 14 to the USAF.[22][22] The first medal of the war was presented to Roger Donlon for rescuing and administering first aid to several wounded soldiers and leading a group against an enemy force.[41] The first African American recipient of the war was Milton L. Olive, III who sacrificed himself to save others by smothering a grenade with his body.[42]Riley L. Pitts was killed after attacking an enemy force with rifle fire and grenades and was the first African American commissioned officer of the war to receive the medal.[43]Thomas Bennett was a conscientious objector who received the medal for his actions as a medic;[44] three chaplains received the medal, including Vincent R. Capodanno, who served with the Marine Corps and was known as the Grunt Padre.[45]

The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a neutral United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, by Israeli jet fighter planes and motor torpedo boats on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 and wounded more than 170 crew members, and damaged the ship severely.[46]

Since the end of the Vietnam War, also known as the Vietnam Conflict and Second Indochina War,[48][49] the United States was involved in a number of smaller conflicts during the end of the Cold War, including in Grenada, Panama, and elsewhere.[50] In the Post-Cold War, the United States was involved in conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, and in the Balkans.[51] No Medals of Honor have been awarded for any of the aforementioned conflicts so far either proactively or retroactively.[52]

On October 3, 1993, during the Battle of Mogadishu, members of the U.S. Army Rangers and SOCOM's Delta Force executed a mission to capture members of Gen. Mohamed Farrah Aidid's forces. In the ensuing battle, two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters were shot down. As the second Blackhawk, containing Chief Warrant OfficerMichael Durant, was hit and crashed, Master Sergeant Gary I. Gordon and Sergeant First ClassRandall D. Shughart were in a nearby Blackhawk monitoring radio traffic. Gordon and Shughart were part of a sniper team for Delta Force that was assigned to watch over the operation, engaging targets from their position in the Blackhawk. As they monitored the downing of the second Blackhawk, it became evident that ground forces would not be available to secure the crash site and protect the critically injured crew of four, all of whom survived the crash. Gordon, the sniper team leader, requested that they be inserted at the 2nd crash site. His request was denied twice before finally being approved on the third request. The snipers were armed only with their sniper rifles and pistols.

Upon reaching the downed Blackhawk, which was under intense enemy fire, Gordon and Shughart pulled the crew from the wreckage and proceeded to set up a defensive perimeter. The snipers, assisted by the severely injured Durant, began to engage the attacking Somalis from the opposite side of the wreckage using assault rifles stored on the Blackhawk. Shughart and Gordon were eventually mortally wounded after nearly exhausting all available ammunition; Durant, the only survivor, was taken hostage. According to Durant's account, 25 Somalis were killed and many more were wounded.

On Monday, May 23, 1994, President Clinton presented the Medal of Honor to the widows of Gordon and Shughart.[53] They are the only snipers to have received the Medal of Honor.[54] The film Black Hawk Down, based on the book of the same name, includes a narrative of the events.

The War in Afghanistan, which began on October 7, 2001, was launched by the United States, the United Kingdom, and NATO allies in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was the beginning of the War on Terrorism. The stated purpose of the invasion was to capture Osama bin Laden, destroy al-Qaeda, and remove the Taliban regime which had provided support and safe harbor to al-Qaeda.[55] Since 2001, 14 American service-members have received the Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan, three of them posthumously. Army Sergeant First ClassJared C. Monti received his medal for attempting to rescue a wounded soldier at the cost of his own life. Navy LieutenantMichael P. Murphy received his for actions against insurgent forces and for sacrificing his life to call for help when his team had been overwhelmed by a much larger enemy force.[56] Army Staff Sergeant Robert James Miller's surviving family was presented with his medal on October 6, 2010.[57] The fourth recipient, Salvatore Giunta received his for his actions in 2007 when he risked his life to save a wounded comrade. He is the first living recipient since the Vietnam War. A second living recipient, Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry, received the medal from President Obama during a July 12, 2011, ceremony.[58] Marine Corps Corporal Dakota Meyer became the third living recipient awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Ganjgal.[59][60] An additional eight living individuals have been awarded the Medal since Meyer.

The Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War,[61] Operation Iraqi Freedom (US),[62] Operation TELIC (UK)[63] or the occupation of Iraq,[64] was a conflict which began on March 20, 2003 with the United States-led invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition composed of U.S. and U.K. troops supported by smaller contingents from Australia, Poland, and other nations.[65] Four service members have received the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq; two from the Army, one from the Marine Corps and one from the Navy. Paul R. Smith was the first to receive it for his actions on April 4, 2003 when he held enemy forces back, allowing other wounded soldiers to be evacuated to safety. The other three, CorporalJason Dunham of the Marine Corps, SpecialistRoss A. McGinnis of the Army and Master-at-ArmsSecond ClassMichael A. Monsoor of the Navy received it after being killed while using their own bodies to smother grenades to protect their comrades.[66]

Before World War II, the Medal of Honor could be received for actions not involving direct combat with the enemy and 193 men earned the medal in this way.[22] Most of these medals were presented to members of the United States Navy for rescuing or attempting to rescue someone from drowning.[22] One of those awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing others was Fireman Second Class Telesforo Trinidad, who as of 2010 has been the only Asian American Sailor to be awarded the Medal of Honor.[67] In addition to the medals that were presented for lifesaving acts, one Medal of Honor was presented to William Halford who sailed in a small boat for 31 days to get help for the other members of USS Saginaw who had been stranded on an island.[68] Three explorers were also presented with the medal by special acts of Congress. Charles Lindbergh received the medal for flying the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean as well as Floyd Bennett and Richard Evelyn Byrd who received it for their participation in what was thought to be the first successful heavier-than-air flight to the North Pole and back. One recipient, Adolphus W. Greely received his for a lifetime of military service.[69]

^This conflict is also known as the Philippine Insurrection. This name was historically the most commonly used in the U.S., but Filipinos and some American historians refer to these hostilities as the Philippine-American War, and, in 1999, the U.S. Library of Congress reclassified its references to use this term.

^Official military histories in Commonwealth nations refer to the conflict as the Second World War, while the United States' official histories refer to the conflict as World War II. English translations of the official histories of other nations tend to resolve into English as Second World War also, for example zweite weltkrieg in German. See C.P. StaceyOfficial History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War, for example. "Official" usage of these terms is giving way to popular usage and the two terms are becoming interchangeable even in formal military history.

^see "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-06-30. Retrieved 2017-07-15. which is updated when new awards are presented. The exact number is included in the main Medal of Honor article.

^The Medal of Honor of the United States Army, United States. Department of the Army. Public Information Division, [Washington, [U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1948] and Medal of Honor, 1861–1949, the Navy. United States Bureau of Naval Personnel. [Washington, 1950?]

^Medal of Honor recipients, 1863–1963. Prepared for the Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate. 1964 was the first of these publications.